


We Feel Like The End

by Taudi



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-01
Updated: 2013-02-01
Packaged: 2017-11-27 20:11:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/665989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Taudi/pseuds/Taudi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Konoha is a ruin. Kakashi is a warrior fighting to survive. Iruka is… something different.</p>
            </blockquote>





	We Feel Like The End

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kiterie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiterie/gifts).



> Written for Kiterie at the KakaIru_Fest winter round 2012.

The air was crisp and full with the lingering battle dust. The once great sky scrapers of Konoha stuck up from the ruins like jagged rotten teeth. The windows in the abandoned houses were dark and broken. The stars were hidden behind the never ending rug of smoke that hung over the city. There was no light. No laughter. 

Kakashi's hands were shaking badly as he placed the worn and slightly bended cigarette between his lips. He fumbled with the zippo lighter and got nothing but small sparks.

"Shit." He cursed and threw it away with a sharp flick of his wrist. It joined the rest of the broken city with a metallic thunk.

Before he could crush the now useless cigarette a small flame was ignited in front of him. He quickly cupped his hand to protect the flame from the wind and lighted the cigarette. Kakashi inhaled deeply, feeling the smoke burn its way through his lungs. He leaned against the grey cement wall and looked out over the debris. There was only an hour or so till dawn but Kakashi felt like this time, this night, would never end. He let the smoke leave his lungs and watched as it swirled with the wind. 

"Thanks." 

Sasuke just shrugged. “You are so screwed, Kakashi-sensei.” It was a blank statement and the ‘we’ was badly hidden. 

"Yeah, I know."

They both stayed quiet after that, too lost in their own thoughts. Kakashi took another drag. And fuck, his hands were still shaking making the ashes flutter from the glowing stub. He could feel Sasuke's dark calculating eyes on his back. 

He could feel the judging in them and he fought the urge to snap something foul at his young pupil. They had been losing the fight and Kakashi had given a damn of the consequences at the time. As much as his actions affected him, they affected their small society more. And it was not for the better. 

"Tsunade-sama and the Council want to see you." Sasuke said and walked back inside the building silently.

Kakashi dropped the glowing cigarette, stumped it out with the toe of his boot and pulled his mask back over his face. There was no way this mess was going to end well.

"Shit."

†-†

Kakashi made his way quickly through the halls of their current home, which was an industrial building in the heart of Konoha. They never stayed in the same building for long, always moving before they could be located. But this time they had waited too long or the Trackers were getting better at snuffing them out. Either way, the battle had been too close to the civilians and the wounded.

They had been so close to losing. They weren't many left but Kakashi would do anything to protect the ones that still fought and believed in a future without the chilling fear of the skies or the scent of metal and iron and blood that clung to everything. He had been fifteen, when everything changed and could still remember sounds of birds, the feeling of the sun on his face. Sometimes he could not decide if that was a blessing, or a curse. 

A young girl dashed past him. Her clothes were rumpled and covered in dust and blood. She rounded a corner and disappeared. She headed towards the screams coming from the area, where the infantry had been set up. 

Kakashi clenched his fist and ignored the bile in his throat. No, matter what he would not apologize for his actions. He didn't regret what he did. The Council hadn't been out there fighting. They hadn't seen his comrades being burned, or crushed, to death. 

Kakashi had been desperate and hadn't seen any other way. And now there was an unspoken standstill. Both parties had retreated to lick their wounds and plan the next course of action.

That Kakashi and Sasuke had dragged one of the hated enemies with them hadn't really been a success. It was understandable, of course. Nobody wanted a ticking bomb in their midst. But it had been necessary and the thing was currently chained, and incapacitated, in an old cooler room that Genma had managed to fix. 

The heavy sliding door to the Council Seat stood open. Kakashi took a deep breath before he walked in. The room only housed crates and benches enough for the Council to sit. Someone had painted the Konoha insignia on the grey wall behind them in dark green. There were no windows, the only light coming from a few crooked candles and the bare walls where damp by water damage. A guard closed the sliding door immediately behind him, the hinges protesting with a painful screech. 

The Council members didn’t say anything for a while, their hard gazes focused on Kakashi, making the atmosphere heavy with an uncomfortable tension. 

Homura Mitokado cleared his throat, breaking the silence. He had been old even before the war began and it still surprised Kakashi that he was able to stay alive. 

"Kakashi-san, we have always been grateful for your impeccable skills in the battlefield, your compassion for our people and your will to sacrifice."

"But," Tsunade took over sharply. She interrupted what Kakashi was sure would've been a long tirade of platitudes, "what you did was inexcusable, no matter how desperate you were. You haven't just put yourself in a shitty situation. You have also endangered the entire society."

Tsunade was a strong, beautiful woman, who'd earned her place as the head of the Council, when she was the only one who'd been strong enough to take some kind of control under the first attack that wasted half of the city. She had saved thousands of people, with her quick thinking, and she was highly respected by everyone. She was also a woman with no tolerance for failure and wasn't afraid of scolding her warriors like you would a five year old child. Only with a lot more cussing and bodily harm. 

At the moment she just stared at him with hard brown eyes, her mouth turned in a sneer and brows furrowed. Kakashi ignored her fury and kept standing in the relaxed slouch he knew she hated. The other Council members actually sent him sympathetic glances but they kept their mouth shut, since it was clear she wasn't done talking.

"That Jutsu was nowhere near ready. We have no idea if it's going to hold, and now we have one of those fucking bastards among us. Torture doesn't work on them, so it is practically useless for information and on top of that, it is not just a simple Tracker you caught. You do know what it is, no?"

"Yes." Kakashi answered tersely, "It's a Noble."

"A fucking Noble, you little shit!" Tsunade yelled, her voice ringing out harshly. A Noble was an extremely rare and treasured among its kind but they were also huge, mean fuckers, who trampled everything in their path. They hadn't been prepared, when it landed on a big building and joined the fight. Kakashi had only seen one in flight once and that was years ago. 

"So you'd rather lose an entire company, than bring one of them down?"

"I'd rather lose a battalion, than having one of those among us." Her words hang darkly in the air.

Kakashi straightened up. His hands twitching to grab the inscribed kunai strapped to his thigh. 

Before he could say or do anything, though, Tsunade released a sigh and all the fury left her. It was like watching a balloon deflate. 

She stood up from the old cracked chair and walked gracefully towards Kakashi, her long robes barely moving. When she reached him she clasped his masked face between her hands and looked him in the eye. 

"I didn't mean that," she said in a hoarse whisper. "I have no idea what to do. We can't set it free, we can't kill it because that means losing you and _I_ don't want that to happen. You're too valuable, you brat."

"And you don't know if the Jutsu really works, which would mean it would have its full power back and it would be pissed."

"That too." Tsunade smiled sadly. 

"Anyone ever told you, you might suffer from bipolar disorder?" It earned him a slap to the back of the head. 

"Brat." 

Kakashi just grinned behind his mask.

†-†

After Kakashi's witty retort, or lame ass attempt at a joke in Tsunade's opinion, they had sat down with Mitokado and the other Council member, Utatane, and tried to come to some sort of solution. But because of all the uncertainties regarding the unfinished Jutsu, they hadn't been able to solve anything.

There needed to be questions answered. Unfortunately, that meant trying to communicate with their prisoner. It was something they all agreed on but no one was too pleased about it.

"You don't let it get to you, and if you feel something's wrong, you goddamn run." Tsunade had ordered strictly. Kakashi had just given her a single court nod as answer.

Thus, Kakashi had crashed on a sleeping mat in a corner for a couple of hours and then grabbed a bowl of watered down soup before making his way to the cooler room. 

His clothes were still covered in grime and dust from the battle. He had thrown the standard Konoha vest in one of the big communal laundry baskets and only wore the standard black long sleeved shirt with a big hood, black leather pants and knee high boots with a metal toe and spiked heels. The inscribed kunai is strapped to his right thigh, with bandages that used to be white.

Dried sweat made the fabric cling to his skin and both his mask, and the hitae ate hiding his blind left eye, were crusted with blood from a shallow head wound. His silver hair was a bit greasy and tinted pink around the wound. He looked horrible and the smell wasn't that pleasant either, but he still got respected greetings by the guards placed on the way to the captivated Noble. 

The door into the cooler room was flanked by two warriors and already heavily engraved with protection and securing spells. All meant to keep the thing confined. 

"Open the door." 

The two guards looked at each other uncertainly. "Hatake-san?"

"It was an order, warriors."

They quickly scrambled to obey, comprehension and confusion clear on their faces. A mist of cold damp swirled lazily around Kakashi and a small shiver went his spine. 

He told the guards to close the door behind him and went inside. 

The Noble was kneeling, naked to the waist, in the back of the cooler. Chakra reducing chains were wrapped around his arms and chest securing it to the wall. Its head was down and hidden behind a curtain of dark brown hair. It was covered in a thin sheet of ice and breathing shallowly. 

Kakashi moved closer but made sure to keep out of reach. Kakashi had never been so close to a Dragon in its human shape, without immediately severing the spine. 

Even though it was weakened by the cold and the chains Kakashi felt the hidden power radiate from the creature. He suspected it had something to do with the bonding Jutsu that was now connecting them. The Jutsu was an idea of Jiraiya, one of their most skill full Jutsu masters, and the one Kakashi secretly saw as something resembling family. 

The Jutsu was meant to bind a human and Dragon together, with the human being the one in control. To keep a human safe a safety was put into the Jutsu, so if the human died the Dragon died too. But Jiraiya was killed before they were able to perfect it, and one of the biggest flaws had been in the safety. 

The Dragon would die if the human died but the human would die if the Dragon died, too. Jiraiya hadn't managed to find a way to remove that little, but very important, side effect. Kakashi could take his own life but neither he nor Tsunade were entirely sure _if_ the Dragon would actually die.

And, of course, Kakashi had to bond himself to a Noble with a not even half finished Jutsu that, at this point, was in favour of the Dragon.

Kakashi knew that the Dragons were aware of what had happened to one of their rare Nobles. They couldn't risk killing him and he couldn't risk killing the Dragon. 

"I know you're not a stupid and you possible know more about this bond than I do. You haven't broken the chains so it must work correctly on some aspects. If you had been at full strength the cold, the chains, wouldn't be more than a little inconvenience to you," he paused briefly, "on the other hand it could all be an act to get some inside information." 

Kakashi crouched down and rested his elbows on his thighs. His mask was starting to get clammy and his fingers were already starting to feel numb. "But I think it's the former."

The Noble lifted its head slowly. It had a handsome face, bordering on pretty, full dark lips that were stretched in a wicked grin revealing white even teeth. A jagged scar ran across the bridge of its nose. Kakashi could remember seeing it on its true form. A battle scar, presumably. The eyes lacked their usual red shine and were a deep dark brown. 

Kakashi tried not to be disturbed by the intense stare that showed no sign of defeat. 

_You have no manners. Why am I not surprised?_

The voice came suddenly, unexpectedly. It was like quick burst of flames concentrated at the back of Kakashi's brain. He fell backwards and landed hard on his ass. Dragons used telepathy to communicate since they didn't have vocal chords. That didn't change, when they transformed. That's why it was impossible to interrogate Dragons. They wouldn't say anything if threatened, and if they were tortured, they had a way of transporting the pain to someone else. That had been a tough lesson to learn. 

The floor was freezing but Kakashi didn't feel it. His eye was wide as he gaped, startled. The Noble just made a strange grunting noise, teeth gleaming. 

_I am Umino Iruka_

Despite the serious situation, Kakashi couldn't stop a throaty chuckle. What kind of name was that for an overgrown, fire breathing lizard?

Iruka probably didn't see the humour, his eyes narrowing into small slits. 

Kakashi straightened his back and crossed his legs. He faced down gigantic Dragons on a regular basis so he could handle a little butt freezing. 

_Your name_

This time it was more a whip lashed spark. The displeasure was very much evident. 

"Hatake Kakashi."

 _I have heard of you_

There was an inkling of respect in the words, which Kakashi thought odd. 

Iruka adjusted his position slightly and folded his hands in his lap. Kakashi was oddly drawn to Iruka's muscled chest and the small brown nipples. 

_You have placed us in an ill situation. I wished I could wring your neck but, as you know, I cannot_

"You are very talkative all of the sudden… and informative." Kakashi was still floored by the sudden awkward conversation. It wasn't exactly what he imagined, when he stepped inside. An angry beast trying to kill him, yes. A civil, calm but still commanding, almost, person, no. 

There was something really wrong. Something was starting to scream at him, but the way Iruka shyly tucked a lock of hair behind his ear drowned everything out. And the sound of someone banging on a door was most definitely just his heart beating. 

_Are you cold, Kakashi?_

Puzzled, Kakashi wrinkled his nose. "Uhm... yes. A little."

Iruka moved fast. One second he sat demurely, wrapped in chains, six feet away from Kakashi and in the next their faces were near inches apart. The chains fell away from Iruka's body and landed on the ice covered floor in a broken tangle, waves of steam rising up from the swiftly warming skin. 

_I can warm you up, Kakashi_

His name felt like a caress and Kakashi let out an involuntary moan. The sound of laughter filled his head but it's more soothing than mocking him.

The black, crusted mask covering his face was pulled down by slim nimble fingers and Iruka kissed him. A forked tongue sneaked its way past Kakashi's lips and caressed the inside of his mouth. Iruka is nothing but heat and fire and sparks and he can't do anything but cling to the Dragon desperately.  
Somewhere, he knows this is wrong. That it's all wrong. But Iruka is burning a way into his mind, scorching every thought of protest away.

Iruka was the first to pull away and Kakashi followed him blindly, trying to recapture those lips again. Instead Iruka's voice resonates in his head. 

_We will be the end of your kind_

Kakashi gasped, when Iruka grasped a handful of his silver hair and forced his head back, exposing the vulnerable line of his throat. The ice on the ceiling had started to melt, cold water drops hitting Kakashi's face. They were surrounded by a thick steam and Kakashi found it hard to breathe. 

_I can't kill you but I can keep you. Actually, I want to keep you. Want to be my mate, Hatake Kakashi?_

A part of Kakashi was trying to claw its way through the white hot inferno of his mind. It kept shouting something about a kunai. The kunai. Kill it. Kill it! 

But the forked tongue returned, tracing a wet line of heat from Kakashi's Adam's apple to the sensitive shell of his ear and Kakashi lost every thought that isn't Iruka, fire, heat. 

_My fierce warrior_

Iruka purred the words in his mind possessively and owning every little part of him.

Kakashi was so screwed. 

 

END?

‡†♥†‡


End file.
